A Heartfelt Farewell and Thank You to the Thanet Rotary Club
- Jul 8
- 2 min read
Date: July 2026
Where: The Royal Harbour Academy
As the Thanet Rotary Club prepares to close its doors, we want to take a moment to share our immense gratitude for their incredible support over the last four years. The Rotary Club has been a dedicated partner in championing literacy at our school, and their legacy will live on through the many students they have inspired.
We are especially grateful for their final, incredibly generous gift of £300, which will be used to purchase new books for our students to enjoy. This is just the latest in a long history of kindness that has placed reading and creativity at the heart of our school community.
Looking back, we have so many wonderful memories of this partnership:
The ‘Literacy Matters!’ Initiative: Under the guidance of Maria Blackburn, a retired primary headteacher who visited our school to meet with students and celebrate their work, the Rotary Club helped provide vital additional texts.
Gifts of Literature: Our students have benefited from numerous book donations, including sets of plays by Willy Russell, such as Our Day Out, which brought the joys and challenges of growing up to life for our Year 8 classes.
Inspiring Outings: The club involved our students in fantastic events like the Margate Bookie festival at the Turner Contemporary. These trips allowed our Year 9s to participate in writing workshops with authors like Felicity Epps and Kathryn Clark, giving them a firsthand look at the creative process from draft to publication.
Creative Competitions: They provided our older students with exciting opportunities to showcase their talents through creative writing competitions.
We still fondly remember the first sets of books being received by students like Brooke Relph back when they were in Year 8, and those books continue to make an impact today.
To Maria Blackburn and everyone at the Rotary Club: thank you for your unwavering kindness and for always being such fantastic supporters of RHA. While we are sad to see the club close, we are so thankful for the opportunities you have given our students. Your generosity has truly made Literacy Matter.
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